On Wednesday night’s season finale for “Law & Order: SVU,” there was certainly a situation that no one expected in over a decade of the show: The possible death of a dearly-beloved character. (Warning: There are some major spoilers ahead, so read with caution.)

At the tail end of the episode, we saw Lewis not only break into the apartment of one Olivia Benson, but it looked as thought there was about to be a bullet fired into her head. The ramifications of this are super-huge at the moment. This means that after being a staple of a show, we could be seeing no more of Mariska Hargitay in a role that has made her a household name.

Of course, the plot is about to thicken even more so, because as of this writing, the actress does not have a new deal to return for the series’ landmark 15th season which could be the last given the declining ratings for the NBC franchise. We have been down this road before with characters on the series, and while it was not quite as extreme as this situation, we did see Christopher Meloni leave, and she could end up doing the same.

If there is a silver lining to report at the moment, it’s this: According to TVLine, Hargitay is reasonably close to signing a one-year deal that will bring her back to the show in some capacity. This is not a guarantee that it will happen, and nor is it a promise that Benson will return in the same physical state that she has been throughout the show’s run to this point.